I must not be like most Americans. When I think of him I get a lot of republican hatemongering stuck with it, most of all people publicly hoping he fails at everything he does, and politicians stating their primary goal of making him a one term president, instead of things like ending our wars, improving our economy, helping our veterans, etc.

Some states have extended benefits to the unemployed because humanity and wanting to avoid the downward spiral of a shrinking local economy while other more Republican controlled states have responded to the long term unemployment situation by "reducing the length of assistance to levels not seen since the Social Security Act established the program in 1935." because bootstraps.

Trolly headline aside (Obama will be remembered more for his OBL kill, for Obamacare, for presiding over marriage equality and his SCOTUS appointments and not long term unemployment) the two different responses bring a certain clarity to differentiating between the two party's core principles, practices and world views.

The fact is, globalization and technology are making US labor obsolete. Robotics will make workers world wide labor obsolete soon. There is just no need for 350 million Americans or 7 billion people on the planet.

As you no doubt recall, Obama accepted the responsibility for the flawed rollout of Healthcare.gov

Unless of course things turn around. Then it will be Obama's awesome, fantastic recovery.

Pshaw. The right will never acknowledge that.

/Eventually a Republican will need to be elected President. Can't be Bush's fault forever.

You guys sure aren't in any hurry to face the systemic problems in your party. And the wind is against you. You've been living on borrowed time by using dirty tricks for decades. Now those birds have come home to roost.

I keep coming back to the idea of a modern WPA. Something that would help the long term unemployed get back into the workforce. Something that would provide a base of demand that would make the private sector have to compete for labor. Something that would cut the cost of.welfare programs and long tem UI. Something that would provide a labor pool for National Parks, Department of Education, Infrastructure, digitizing the Library and Archives, cleaning up brownfields and urban blight. Etc.

Some people need to go back to school and learn or re-learn that CONGRESS has to pass jobs bills before the president can. And when one side of Congress don't give a flying f*ck about people because they're obsessed with destroying one guy while screwing millions to do so, then the only real solution is to vote out these d-bags already.

Let's see, what are we up to now, 38+ straight months of overall job growth?

After being drained by an extra war (Iraq) while we're fighting for the future in Afghanistan, after the economic crash of 2008, with a congress bent on destroying the president, things aren't getting better fast enough for the concernvatives?

El Pachuco:SCUBA_Archer: a Republican will need to be elected President

Given that the GOP chose 30 years ago to go all in on a demographic that is old, dying off and not being replaced, y'all have a bit of a problem with that plan.

Propose a few more draconian gun laws and let's see how much Joe Taxpayer ends up having to spend on his newfound "healthcare coverage" and Democrats may need to switch to the Whig party to get some attention.

SCUBA_Archer:El Pachuco: SCUBA_Archer: a Republican will need to be elected President

Given that the GOP chose 30 years ago to go all in on a demographic that is old, dying off and not being replaced, y'all have a bit of a problem with that plan.

Propose a few more draconian gun laws and let's see how much Joe Taxpayer ends up having to spend on his newfound "healthcare coverage" and Democrats may need to switch to the Whig party to get some attention.

draconian == let's have everybody undergo background checks before they pick up their next kid whacker just to make sure that you're not insane, a felon, or both.

SCUBA_Archer:El Pachuco: SCUBA_Archer: a Republican will need to be elected President

Given that the GOP chose 30 years ago to go all in on a demographic that is old, dying off and not being replaced, y'all have a bit of a problem with that plan.

Propose a few more draconian gun laws and let's see how much Joe Taxpayer ends up having to spend on his newfound "healthcare coverage" and Democrats may need to switch to the Whig party to get some attention.

Let's start with the subby, whose headline has no basis in anything from the article.

When I think of long term joblessness I think of the Republicans and their Tea Baggers, who, when the country was faced with the worst economic disaster since the great depression, decided to obstruct and oppose efforts to address the problem (while lying constantly about having a laser focus on jobs) and then actually shut down the federal government at a cost of $24 billions to the economy in an attempt to subvert the democratic process. The Republicans and their Tea Bagger buddies have not only prolonged the effects of the economic meltdown, they have increased its severity. Now they are looking for ways to make the unemployed American people they have ignored for the last five years suffer even more by cutting food stamps and unemployment benefits.